While I always suggest that you work hard even when you’re away from the tables, studying and developing your strategies, in small-stakes games, most of your profits will come from mistakes that your opponents make (of course, we need to know how to exploit these mistakes!). This will allow you to win more money compared to robotic, closed-off styles of play that treat all players the same. Most low-stakes players will fall into one of four varieties: calling station, very weak players, maniacs, and strong players. In this article, we’ll discuss how to exploit the calling station player.
We classify a calling station as someone who calls a lot of hands pre-flop, on the flop, and often on the turn and river as well. It is important to understand that some calling stations will come to the turn with a wide range of hands, calling a lot of c-bets on the flop for example, and will fold to an additional bet, making their river range quite strong when they do call that bet. Other players will call bets on the turn with a wide range, making their river range weak. It is up to you to decide what your opponent's range is, based on the information you have so far at the table.
Correct bet sizing is of the utmost importance in these situations. Your goal against players who call with a wide range of hands is to keep them in the hand with that wide range. Many amateurs think that the goal is to make your opponent fold, but this is not true. You need to adjust your bet sizing so that you can extract the most value possible from your opponent's bad hands when he decides to call with them. Betting too large will make him fold his bad hand, thus forcing your opponent to make the right play. In general, most calling stations will call bets of about half the pot size with all types of bad hands. As the bet size increases, even the biggest calling stations in poker will start to fold.
Example: Playing against a Calling Station player
Suppose I raised to $7 from MP, in a $1-$2 cash game, and only one calling station called, he is in the big blind. The flop comes :Js :Th :4d and he checks. The strategy I would use in this situation, with my entire range, is as follows:
First, don't fall into the trap of thinking that just because your opponents play marginal hands from all positions that you should too.
Second, against average players I want to bet with my premium hands and draws and check with marginal and bad hands. Playing this way will make me a bit unbalanced and difficult to exploit. However, against calling stations you should adjust this range and bet for value with marginal hands, since they will call with hands as weak as Ace-high.
So, my betting range includes all my premium hands, all marginal hands, and open-ended draws. I choose to bet draws because that way I can build a strong pot so that when I can improve to a straight or flush I can take a good chunk of chips. For example, I would not normally value bet AQo, only AK+, but since our opponent tends to sink with hands like Ax, in this situation I would be comfortable value betting AQ as well.
If he check-raises on the flop I will only continue in the game with very good hands. In my experience most calling stations play a simple and straightforward style, only raising when they have a really good hand, and by good hand I mean at least a top pair with a strong kicker or a decent draw. When passive players decide to get aggressive proceed with caution.
Decision: Turn
It's important to think ahead about how your opponent will continue to play on the turn. Will he call any bet regardless of whether he hits the flop or not, including aces high? Will he only call with pairs? Again, in my experience, most will call with all pairs and any straight draws.
Suppose I bet the flop and my opponent calls. If I bet on a turn that doesn't improve his range, he would probably check-raise with better hands than KJs.
So what cards are bad for my range on the turn? None really. Mostly because my opponent's range is so wide. This should lead me to c-bet most hands for value on the turn. The only time I should consider checking is when I have really bad hands like AQ or 55 and the turn doesn't connect at all with what I have, making the board just scarier. For example, an 8 would be bad for AQ and an Ace would be bad for 55. So my entire range will typically have around 65% equity against my opponent on pretty much any type of turn card.
Decision: River
On the river you simply need to figure out which hands your opponent will call and which ones he will fold. If he calls with any hand with an Ace-high or better, you can value bet marginal hands, although not as marginal as smaller pairs, since he will probably call with some sort of pair as well. If he calls only with middle pairs or better, you should be more restrictive, value betting only larger pairs or better. It is up to you to define your strategy for each specific opponent.
As you can see, the easiest way to take advantage of a calling station is to simply bet for value.
Article translated and adapted from the original: Poker Strategy With Jonathan Little: Combating Calling Stations
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